NBA Superlatives

It's March ladies and gentlemen. I'm not entirely sure where the year went (or the NBA season for that matter) but the NBA Playoffs start in 35 days. It's been a season full of amazing highlights, classic games and of course, being this time of year, heated debates about who deserves what award for their performances this season. Declaring your MVP pick has become as controversial as arguing your religion or explaining why you didn't vote for Obama in the last election. For some reason this season, these conversations are imbued with more passion than I have seen in the last few years. I haven't seen arguments or such different hot takes since people picking between no. 23 and no. 24 in 2009.

And honestly, I feel that speaks volumes about the performances that have been put on this year by several players each trying to build their case for their brand, their team and to compete for an NBA Championship. In the last few weeks I've listened to a few podcasts, read some articles and had some conversations about these awards and it's been intriguing to me just how different the opinions have been. Everyone is so invested in their picks and I love it. So I woke up today and decided to list my choices and also to shed some light on some deserving players whose achievements this season aren't immediately recognizable to the casual NBA fan. 

Most Improved Player

Honorable Mentions: Draymond Green, Rudy Gobert, Hassan Whiteside.

I didn't think this is close but damn injuries. If he doesn't win it it's because of the games he would have missed by the time he comes back from his injury, but Jimmy Butler came in this season and wrecked shop. I'm really sitting here eating a plate full of crow. 

I denounced Jimmy Butler as an offensive player back in October and felt it was disrespectful that Bulls fans affectionately referred to him as "Jimmy Buckets" like we didn't have the pleasure of watching legends like Ricky Davis on the court. Like we hadn't all watched the same guy play the last two seasons. He couldn't shoot. But this season *cough*(excuse me. *spits out feathers*) *cough* he has easily been the best player for the Chicago Bulls. If you'd told me last year that he was going to be an All-Star I'd have asked how many people really got injured that year and how did the Bulls avoid the bug. He became Coach Thibs new workhorse after the other ones broke down (cheap shot. Sorry, not sorry) and handled the role impressively and without any visible complaints. His stats speak for themselves honestly (per Basketball Reference):

He upped his FG% from 39.7% to 46.2%. He was more aggressive going to the basket which increased his free throw attempts. He's a better rebounder. His points per game increased from 13.1 to 20.2. His ball-handling got significantly better.  And he's still playing elite defense. Now I really like the idea of Draymond Green winning it too because he's been spectacular (I'll get to him next) but for Jimmy, in a season that was supposed to be hallmarked with the re-return of Derrick Rose? And the addition of Pau Gasol? And he's still been the best player on the team? Come on man. Get well soon Jimmy Buckets.

6th Man of the Year

Honorable Mentions: Rudy Gobert, Lou Williams.

It almost feels like you have to give this award to Jamal Crawford by default right? His stats have dipped a little but he's still important to the Clippers mainly because the rest of their bench is trash. Nonetheless he's still been fairly impressive and his contribution is still a big boost to his team. However, I'd like to shed some light on a guy named Marreese Speights. 

Mo is averaging a career high 11 points per game with a FG% of 49.7%. He's playing more minutes under Steve Kerr and is a big part of Golden State's success with their second unit. His mid-range game is good. He's a contributor on defense. And he's been asked to step in to save the day during the stretches that the Warriors were without Andrew Bogut. It's a tossup between him and Jamal.

Coach of the Year

Honorable Mentions: Frank Vogel, Jason Kidd

Nothing to see here. It's between Mike Budenholzer (who I wrote about in my preseason rankings) and Steve Kerr. Both their teams are playing at elite levels and their fingerprints are all over it. Kerr has not only been able to bring the absolute best out of the Warriors; they've found that high gear. They look focused. They have the best offense and defense in the NBA. And he's a pretty funny guy.

On the other hand, Coach Bud is a magician. He took that Hawks team that has reveled in mediocrity for so many seasons and has been the laughingstock of both winning and losing teams and turned them into legit contenders. They took the Pacers to 7 games last year with all those injuries and I believe that was all Mike's doing.The play-making opens up their shooters. The team defense eliminates their weaknesses individually. It's between those two coaches. Move along.

Rookie of the Year

Honorable Mentions: Nikola Mirotic, Elfrid Payton

Winner: Andrew Wiggins. Move along.

Defensive Player of the Year

Honorable Mentions: Tim Duncan, Rudy Gobert, Kawhi Leonard, DeAndre Jordan, Marc Gasol etc. 

There are a lot of names that can be thrown in here. I think this category is a lot more convoluted than the MVP race. I will listen to any case. Except the one presented for DeAndre Jordan. I mentioned him because I love the improvement to his game this year but to give him DPOY, especially when his team isn't that good defensively seems like a stretch. Even if he's capable of doing stuff like this.

He plays more minutes than any big in the NBA and they're still not a good defensive team. Yeah he's averaging 2.2 blocks per game this season (very impressive) but I don't think that makes him a good rim protector. Tom Haberstroh of ESPN illustrated it pretty well. Opposing players shoot 49% at the rim when DeAndre Jordan is near the basket. That ranks 31st out of 59 big men. Bottom-half of the league in rim protection. Nah. Not when Rudy is out there and guys are shooting 39% at the rim. DJ isn't even the average. 

I digress. There are actually a lot of DPOY candidates out there. My personal favorite would have been Kawhi Leonard, if he hadn't missed so many games. What he's able to do against opposing ball-handlers is stifling. Just plain suffocating. 

However, I said this name back in December and I'm glad it's starting to catch on finally. Draymond Green is out there and he's been awesome this season.

 My friends think I'm crazy with this pick, but I feel like people aren't really paying attention to what this kid is capable of or his contributions to a Warriors defense that has top two interchangeably even without Andrew Bogut for long stretches. For a team that has been knocked out of the playoffs the last few seasons with the narrative being "they lost too much on defense because Bogut couldn't stay healthy", it hasn't made much of a difference this year and I believe that is all due to Draymond's defensive versatility. This kid guards positions 1-5 at a high level.

 Don't get me wrong though, there is something to be said for team defense and his teammates contribute to his overall effectiveness but regardless he's a weapon. He's a good rim protector, he's got active, strong hands, he can block shots, but most importantly he can switch on to any position which is important in today's game. He's my pick in a strongly contested race.

Most Valuable Player

Honorable Mention: Anthony Davis

I'm copping out of this one. Nope. Not picking anybody. My mind has changed on it several times in the last month and to pick one now would be a disservice to both players in the lead of the race, the best player in the world, AND the freak of nature catching up to them. The MVP race is all about the narrative. It helps build your argument. 

Lebron James is having a phenomenal season. In related news, water is wet. I barely remember a time he didn't force his way into an MVP discussion with his disgusting (I mean that in a good way) stats. I read about "voter's fatigue" concerning Lebron and it's true. I think eventually people just get tired of seeing him around and want something different. He's averaging 26 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds a game. He's still the best player in the world. The Cavaliers have been on a roll since he came back from his "injury" and he's been playing at an amazing level since then. The only thing that pushes him out of the race for me was that time missed. As Jalen Rose says "there's a difference between being hurt and being injured". Lebron could have played those weeks. But he didn't. Yes it's important to have the bigger picture in mind and be ready/healthy for the playoffs (and he needed to organize the two trades that brought them Mozgov, Shumpert and JR Smith) but he missed 11 games during that time. James Harden and Stephen Curry have been there for their teams all season. Westbrook in his own way too. Either way. Lebron is having an amazing year, but I just feel that the other three are currently pushing him out of the conversation. 

The race has been tight from jump. James Harden and Stephen Curry leaving other players in the dust. Both players have been out of their minds this season. Harden is a force of nature that needs to be reckoned with on a basketball court. He's too fast and too strong. Able to finish at the basket at will or draw the foul. His footwork in traffic is amazing. He's a cold-blooded killer with amazing handles leaving opposing defenders on their knees or backsides while he drains jumpers in their face.

And his defense has improved greatly (granted this isn't saying much considering where it was last season but STILL!) However, Harden's strongest case is the help that he has around him, or lack thereof. There's no other star on the team. He's done this in large part without Dwight Howard. He was the NBA's leading scorer up until last week. And his team is in the 3rd seed of the Western Conference. IF YOU HAD TOLD ME THAT THE ROCKETS WOULD BE IN THE 3RD SEED WITHOUT DWIGHT HOWARD, I WOULD HAVE TOLD YOU TO STOP SMOKING CRACK! Yes that's how serious Harden's MVP case is. 

Then there's that kid. The Chef. Stephen Curry. One of the best shooters in NBA history. Off the dribble, in traffic, hand in his face and he's still drilling threes over your best defender from 8 feet behind the 3-point line. Curry gives opposing coaches headaches. Nightmares too with moves like this.

He's the best player on the best team in the NBA. That has to mean something right? 24 points and 8 assists doesn't really sound all that but it's the way he achieves it that makes him a problem for other teams. And it all happens in the 33 minutes per game that he's averaging this season. That's a lot for the amount of time he plays. However, he's dropping back a little. He's been fairly quiet in his last few games while Harden dropped a triple double.  But you have to acknowledge a guy that's still capable of things like this:

Speaking of triple doubles. Hello Russell Westbrook. I've been drinking the #LetWestbrookBeWestbrook Kool-Aid for the past 4 years now. I defended his game against the likes of Skip Bayless fans that thought he was terrible or that him and Durant couldn't work well together blah blah blah. Shut up. Russell is one of the most talented players in the world on offense and defense. At times I'm not even sure he's human. He's been called a rocket-ship, a monster, an alien etc. in the last few weeks and by now I'm sure you've heard why. 

A friend of mine, Paul Moses, @ScatterSports on Twitter, wrote about "What a Russell Westbrook MVP Season Would Look Like" (great read) and he did a great job of breaking down what he would need to do in order to win MVP. Then Russ got hurt. And life was sad for the Thunder for a little bit. And then he came back and exploded. See, what people are missing is that they think this Russ stretch started in the last 15 games or so. No. Russ was doing crazy things early on in the season. Then he poured gasoline all over himself and lit a match and went Super-Saiyan and is burning the NBA to the ground one game at a time. THIS DUDE BROKE HIS FACE! THERE WAS A DENT IN HIS FACE! AND HE CAME BACK A WEEK LATER AND OBLITERATED THE 76ERS.

In that game he dropped 49 points, 16 rebounds, and 10 assists... What? He averaged 31 points, 10 assists and 9 rebounds for the month of February. What? He has a  Player Efficiency Rating of 29.91. Tom Haberstroh noted that of the 50 greatest NBA players of all time, only 5 have ever done that. He's in elite company. Also don't forget he's doing it without the current reigning MVP, Kevin Durant.

But like I said. The MVP award is all about the narrative. Which one is strongest as we head into the last 5 weeks of the regular season? Is it the guy who gives us jaw-dropping highlights while being the best player on a historically-elite team? The guy who's carried his team on his back the whole season and pushed them far past expectations into the top-half of the Western Conference and being 2nd in scoring? Or the freak of nature who's just blowing everything up in his wake? I mean seriously. Dude reminds me of the old Godzilla movies. It's a tough race going forward and it's a lot closer than people think in my opinion and that includes Westbrook. 

Focus on the narrative. 

Quit Cramping My Style, AMIRITE?!

The world watched Game 1 of the 2014 NBA Finals last night between the defending champs, the Miami Heat and the contenders from last year, the San Antonio Spurs. So many stories revolved around this match-up from the moment the Thunder were beaten in Game 6 in Oklahoma and the Spurs locked in their 5th Western Conference Championship in 15 years.

I've gotten tired of hearing words and phrases like dynasty, all-time greats, best (insert NBA position here), future hall-of-fame player etc. in the past week. Sure the media needs to create a buzz around the NBA finals to get viewers and clicks on their site. I mean that's what I'm doing here too but was there ever a doubt who was going to be in the finals this year? We all knew Miami was coming out of the East unscathed. The Oklahoma City story-line was a joy to follow and they planted seeds of doubt in everyone's minds about who would take the Wild West but come on, we knew it was going to be Heat v. Spurs - Part Dos right?... Cool.

Shots were fired here and there. Little jabs thrown. Words misunderstood. Whatever. I'm not here for controversy. I just want to watch some damn good basketball. And Game 1 was great. Good shooting, great ball movement, defense and a great subplot starring the AT&T Center's A/C repair guy.

Lebron James has forced me to change my stance on the Miami Heat from 2011 and himself as a player. I admire his growth and the effort he's put into improving his game. Chris Bosh is a future Hall-of-Fame player (cringe) anyone would love to have as a teammate, always giving a 100% despite what the casual basketball fan on Twitter will tell you.

And as much as I hate Dwyane Wade (dude can't even spell his name right), when his career is over, he'll be considered the 3rd best Shooting Guard of all time behind the GOAT and Bean. Head Coach Erik Spoelstra, has elevated himself from being known as "Pat Riley's figurehead" to a Future Hall of Fame coach with a great future ahead of him.

Then we have the San Antonio Spurs. 24 out of 25 playoff appearances since the 1989-90 season. 14-straight 50-win seasons. Another NBA Finals appearance even after many thought they were done last year. 4 Hall of Fame candidates. Tim Duncan, the greatest Power Forward of all time, Obi-Wan Ginobili and the best player on the team, Tony Parker. And of course, the "lovable" Coach Gregg Popovich. 'Nuff said. As "boring" and effective as they come, the Spurs quietly sweep the Western Conference under their rug like some irritating dust bunnies. 

Both teams came into the season focused and ready to compete for this chance again. Albeit, there were doubts about the age of the Spurs players and whether they could do it again but Tim Duncan and the gang came in motivated. The Heat players are going for a 3-peat. Trying to join the likes of Kobe and Shaq's Lakers and Michael Jordan's Bulls. I'm not even going to put The Great Bill Russell's Celtics in that conversation cause they won 8 in a row and I'm a tad biased so tough cookies.

My point is there's a lot on the line in this championship. The winners will have their legacies (raised to even higher standings). The losers (even though they will still both be amazing teams) will have to ride the plane back home and deal with contract negotiations and team restructuring in the off-season. It seems like there's only one player whose legacy may be tarnished by a loss in the next two weeks. Oh hi Lebron.

A loss in this NBA finals will keep ESPN and basketball bloggers excited till October. The fans that hate him will be happy because he'll be further away from their favorites (Kobe or Michael). First Take on ESPN2 will beat the story into the ground in order to get more viewers. I don't know man. I never thought I'd see the day when I'd defend Lebron James, but damn.

It's honestly painful to watch, when you see people who are just WAITING to attack the guy after the Heat lose a game. It might be the age of social media, where we are more in tune with the thoughts of the millions of people around the world. I'm not sure. There just seems to be this piggyback effect that causes the casual NBA fan, plus people that don't even watch games to attack a player when they lose a game.

Now if Lebron had put up another 8 point performance like he did in 2011, then I'd say the slander was deserved. However, a cramp in one's leg...? It kinda sucks to see a player that loves the game get slandered for cramping up while playing a game in a 90+ degree arena. It just shows how ridiculous the nature of things have become. 

It was hot at the game. That was all we heard as viewers for three-and-a-half quarters of the game. Jeff Van Gundy was sweating balls, and bald heads. NBA reporters tweeted about having to change their shirts. Tim Duncan was soaking. The A/C repair guy couldn't get it done. It was reported that it was 90 degrees on the court.

We knew something was up when Lebron asked to be taken out of the game in the 2nd half. The guy is a machine. As durable as they come. A damn freak of nature, and I mean that in the nicest way possible. He cramped up in the 4th quarter and the Spurs, like the great team that they are, were able to exploit that sign of weakness and exploded on a 31-9 run to end the game.

Tim led the way for the Spurs with 21 points, 10 rebounds off a 90% shooting exhibition (this guy is 38 years old. Ridiculous). 

Manu and Tony Parker had fine games with 16 points, 11 assists and 19 points, 8 assists respectively. Role players in the form of Sugar K Leonard, Patty Mills and Boris Diaw aka The Lebron Stopper were great in helping execute the game plan and move the ball around. I know this came from the series against the Thunder but what do you do on defense against a team that moves the ball like this???

The game was pretty close up until the cramps took place which left Lebron on the sideline for the rest of the game, which actually caused Pat Riley to show some emotion (that's when I really knew something serious was going on). James finished with 25-6-3, which are nnnooottt quite his numbers. Unfortunate. Wade started off effective, but his shooting fell off as the game went on. Maybe the Heat got to him (yeah, I had to throw at least one in here). Bosh was my favorite player from the Heat in this sauna with 18 and 9, and he was the only player on the team that didn't complain about the heat in the arena. 

Just play ball and stay hydrated. I'm ready for Game 2. Blood will be spilled in this series if Game 1 was an indicator of anything. Stay hydrated kids. Ice up.

P.S. Romo Curse? Perhaps. Only kidding.

LeBron and His Sight on the Starz

LeBron James, TWO-TIME NBA CHAMPION, is currently not focusing on his mediocre post-game; he has sight on something more, or less, depending on how important the NBA is to you. LeBron James is in cahoots with the premium TV network Starz regarding his new sitcom 'Survivor's Remorse'. Mr James will be the executive producer of the sitcom that is based out of North Philadelphia. The show will not be featuring LeBron James in the show however the two central characters will be modeled off of LeBron's ascension out of the inner-city and his success afterwards.